A Glimpse Into The Magic
Staff Highlights
Written by autumnngrace
Edited by gospojken
Hello, lovely witches and wizards of Potterworld. In this month's Staff Highlights, we will be interviewing a few dedicated members of the team and delving behind the scenes into their history on Potterworld. It is a great joy to have the opportunity to give you these interviews. With that being said, here are their stories!
How long have you been on the staff team?
M_Engel: I have been on the staff team since September 2022.
zZalt: I’ve been on the staff team since November 2021. (Does that count as old?)
yakko__: I have been on the staff team for about three years.
What made you interested in joining the staff team?
M_Engel: Before joining the staff team, I used to report a few bugs either through tickets in-game or via the bug forum on our website. Since the community was and is so friendly, and I got to know a lot of staff members, I decided to try my luck in joining as a Grounds Keeper.
zZalt: I have always liked making skins, and I’ve been on PW since 2015, so I thought I’d combine the two and join the team. I also really wanted a cute role LMAO.
yakko__: Basically, the second I saw that the Daily Diviner had applications open for writers, I was hooked. I’ve always loved writing, and Potterworld with all its lore seemed like such a wonderful place to play around in!
What are your current staff roles?
M_Engel: My current staff roles are Sr. Grounds Keeper and 3D Arithmancer.
zZalt: I’m a Skin Arithmancer.
yakko__: I'm a writer for the Daily Diviner.
What type of work do you do in your positions?
M_Engel: My positions work more back-end, where students don't interact with us often, unless through bug reporting or questions. For Grounds Keepers, we usually test new content (events, expeditions, classes) before it is released to the public by reporting bugs to the team in question. Outside of that, we log bugs that are reported by students or staff members. We can test it to make sure it is fixed or still needs fixing. Since I am in a Senior position, I need to make sure the bugs we reported for the content are fixed.
As for 3D arithmancer, we make the renders for several places, such as for the web store and posts for the Daily Diviner or on social networks. Then it is delivered to the 2D Arithmancers.
zZalt: I basically just make skins lol, but it also involves some character design elements since the prompts sometimes leave a lot of creative choices to the Arithmancer.
yakko__: For every new issue, once I’m assigned an article, I write and submit an outline. Depending on the article type, these can be very bare-bones, or they can be nearly an entire article on their own! Once the outline is approved, I go ahead and write. Some articles allow for a lot of creative liberty, though plenty require researching certain lore details or exploring in-game locations to portray them accurately. After writing, I submit the article for editing comments, make any edits that are needed, and then my role is finished for that issue!
How much time do you approximately spend on your staff responsibilities each week?
M_Engel: I would say I do not have a fixed schedule/time because it depends on how busy the weeks are and if my IRL activity is busy or not. However, I typically save at least 5 hours and up to 9 hours per week. Sometimes it can be more hours.
zZalt: It all depends; it’s a very event-based position, as most skins are made for events. I’ve also done this for so long that I can make a batch of skins rather quickly. But I’d say I might spend 3-4 hours per event. Sometimes more, sometimes less. (I kinda squish it all together so I don’t work every week.)
yakko__: When I’m writing an article, I usually spend between one to four hours a week on them. Sometimes writer’s block gets in the way, sometimes an article comes out practically perfect on the first try.
What do you enjoy the most about your roles?
M_Engel: For Grounds Keeper, trying the content before release is always a pleasure, especially when we find bugs that can break the experience. You would be surprised how many bugs we have found before being released. After the content is released, I can help my friends and students who might get stuck or make a bug report; I usually understand and can help them.
As for 3D Arithmancer, I think the creative process is what I enjoy the most, even with the limitations of the 3D.
zZalt: That it is a creative outlet. I’m about to finish my degree soon, so my days mostly consist of studying; having this as a break from all of that is really nice.
yakko__: My favorite aspect of writing for the Daily Diviner is how creatively fulfilling it can be. The articles I love to write the most are the ones written from interesting character perspectives about little snippets of the server’s world that really flesh it out.
What do you find most challenging with your roles?
M_Engel: For both positions, what I find most challenging is the workflow that can be inconsistent. One month we barely have anything to test and barely any bugs being logged; the other month is the opposite.
On the Grounds Keeper, when it is co-op/multiplayer, it can be tough to have any other Grounds Keeper members to help me since we have usually been a small team.
zZalt: The most challenging part is probably the character design element of it. You don’t want every skin to look the same and be boring lol.
yakko__: Personally (and a lot of other Writers can probably relate), the biggest challenge for me is DEADLINES! I often spend a lot of time thinking about writing, sometimes even more than I do actually writing, and lose track of when what’s supposed to be due. I like to think I’m getting the hang of it, though.
What is a favourite memory you have made during your time as a staff member?
M_Engel: When I have been a staff member, there are a lot of memories I have made, either on SAD, where I would do activities with my friends on the staff team and win tournaments with them too. But I probably will have to choose when I would do meetings with other Grounds Keepers, as we work together with a common goal.
zZalt: This is a hard one; most of my PW memories aren’t staff-related. But during the time I’ve been staff, I would say the time I, Ellie and Niko lost a Dueling challenge (or tournament idk) because we ended up killing each other instead of the other team.
yakko__: A favorite staff memory of mine is a bunch of us in Media getting together on Discord and watching a dummy player slot absolutely thrash all of us in a hunger games simulator. It was a dark day, but it was also very funny.
Is there anything more you would like to say to those reading this interview?
M_Engel: If you are interested in joining any of the positions, feel free to apply. I, as I am sure the rest of the team, would be more than happy to teach you. I know it can be scary at first, but we will do our best to make the experience as smooth as possible.
zZalt: Y’all should check out all the hot lumberjack skins I’ve made around the server. (There are at least 3.)
yakko__: If you enjoy this issue of the Daily Diviner, please consider supporting us by checking out our other issues and telling your friends on the server about our paper. You, the readers, are an important part of this work!
As always, thank you for tuning in to this month’s Staff Highlights, and much love to the staff members who took time out of their day to be interviewed. Each of these members has done amazing things for the server, and I cannot wait to see what else they accomplish on the staff team!
